Quotes from Chuck D

When you travel the world, you have to watch and you have to listen. We're not going to come in to Ireland without an understanding that there's a history that's very sensitive.

Rappers should just be able to perform what they create and satisfy the people that like and love them.

I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.

You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake.

The truth has no form, you know. It's not like walking around trying to actually ask for favors and to be acknowledged, it is what it is.

I think traveling the world has helped to keep Public Enemy alive. We've never solely depended on the United States.

I think the Internet was the saving grace for Public Enemy. Before that, travelling the world saved Public Enemy.

Downloadable music is the biggest musical phenomenon since the Beatles, and the music industry is slow to come to grips with that.

One of the problems with hip hop is lack of infrastructure and not being able to control its own course. I don't like that hip hop is full of infantile 35-year-olds. Hip hop cannot afford to be lazy.

Of course voting is useful. But then again, I don't put a big glow to it. Voting is about as essential as washing yourself. It's something you're supposed to do. Now, you can't go around bragging, expecting to get props because you voted. That's stupid.

What made me want to become a recording artist; I was the first artist that was repeatedly asked by a label to record with them. That label was Def Jam Records.

Never try to make the same record twice, even when people are screaming for the same sound.

Men have periods; they're called wars.

Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding don't come out of the microwave. You got to keep moving forward because the evil doesn't sleep.

Being positive is like going up a mountain. Being negative is like sliding down a hill. A lot of times, people want to take the easy way out, because it's basically what they've understood throughout their lives.

I grew up as a sports fan, and I know that a hall of fame is very different than an award for being the best of the year. It's a nod to the longevity of our accomplishment.

Government and culture are two diametrically opposed forces - the one blinds and oppresses, the other uplifts and unites.

You can't master time, but you have to work your hardest to manage it.

My work throughout my life is always representative of the time we live in. It's all about keeping it in order and keeping it in gear.

Once you think bigger than yourself then the cause becomes the issue if you think on a higher plain you can come together to work on our problems.

The best way to boycott is to build your own

The best American is one who considers themselves as a citizen of the world.

Our freedom of speech is freedom or death, We got to fight the powers that be!